


Flying Without Wings

by orphan_account



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Swimming, Aromantic Ruby, Asexual Castiel, Bisexual Dean, Community: asexual_fandom, F/F, F/M, Homophobic John Winchester, Love at First Sight, M/M, Minor Lisa Braeden/Dean Winchester, Pansexual Sam, Polysexual Jo, Rating May Change, Swimming
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-20
Updated: 2014-11-20
Packaged: 2018-02-26 10:36:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2648891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel is a swimmer. His life consists of him either in a pool, in a classroom, or in his bed. End of story. Until Sam and Charlie introduce him to Dean that is. With both boys struggling to find who they are, graduating seems a long ways away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flying Without Wings

Castiel Novak stood rigidly at the sidelines, the cheering and shouting fading into the distant background of his mind. In the way, way distant background. Castiel was far too preoccupied with his own thoughts to take notice of the girl in lane two frantically searching for her goggles, of the person somewhere off to his left taking a long drag of their cigarette, of the cacophony of splashes coming from the pool.

He was more concerned about the butterflies in his stomach, the frantic /pitter pat/ of his heart, and the tightness in his chest. This was his first time swimming the 50 butter fly outside of an invitational and Castiel was scared that he was going to screw it all up.

"Next up, the boys 50 fly. Swimmers to the blocks," the announcer says, snapping Castiel out of his thoughts. He stepped over the pale, sun bleached rope separating the swimmers in the current event and those of the next event.

Castiel reached up to the top of his head and pulled his goggles down over his eyes. The world turned blue, his sight manipulated by the cerulean lenses. The rubber straps tugged on his hair, pulling and pinching. Castiel took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself down before his race.

 _*Mreeeeeeppppp*_ The sound of a long buzzer went off, telling the swimmers to step up onto the blocks. He stepped up, careful not to slip off or fall. Castiel curled the toes of his left foot around the edge of the block, giving himself a more solid grip to push off of.

"Swimmers, take your marks."

Castiel bent down and grabbed the edges of the block, prepared to pull him forward. His right heel hanging off the edge of the small diving block.

 ***Naaaahh***  And he was off. He hit the pool surface at an angle, not going too deep, yet also not belly flopping. The water quickly pulled him into it's cool embrace as he streamlined half the length of the pool. The longer you streamline, the less you have to swim after all.

He loved to fly. Not flying like in an airplane, but flying in the water. Castiel strove for that one perfect moment when you leap out of the water and hit your highest point. Arms outstretched to the side, body hovering above the surface, legs coming out of the water. That is what it is to truly fly. Gravity no longer weighing him down. He is free. Everything is perfect in that moment.

Then it begins all over again. The curving of his arms, lowering his head, muscles stretching as he rejoins the water. He plunges into the depths of his lane five, feeling the familiar burn in his arms and legs, his shoulders aching due to the strain. Butterfly is after all the hardest stroke.

The wall was racing forward to meet him. He had to time this just right, for if he didn't he might touch the wall with only one hand and get himself disqualified. Castiel gave one last fierce kick before meeting the wall. He quickly grabbed the wall, turned and shoved himself forward, doing some more streamlining.

Castiel resurfaced and took a big inhale of breath. His arms were beginning to feel the wear and tear of the stroke. His legs were turning into noodles, making his kicks less powerful. His lungs were tight and strained from the exertion. But he was almost there.

The touchpad loomed just ahead, maybe two strokes more at the most. He could hear Coach Singer shouting at him to finish big. Castiel summoned all the strength he had left and sprinted the few yards of empty space. He slammed his hands into the touchpad, stopping the timer on the board and saving his result.

Castiel craned his head, taking note of the three swimmers just pulling in. He looked up at the scoreboard, to those red numbers. A big smile made its appearance on his face. His time was 38.24 seconds. He'd dropped a whole second!

"Alright everybody out of the pool! Girls 200 free up next." The announcer droned on.

He reached up to the sides of the pool and hoisted himself onto dryish land. Castiel stood, and turned to walk off only to have a red-headed blur halt him. She skidded and nearly fell, but caught herself in time.

"Cas you dropped time!" Charlie enthusiastically chirped, grinning ear to ear with pride at her best friends' achievement.

"You really shouldn't run around the pool Charlie, it's slippery," came his automatic response. "You get fall and get h-"

"Cas. You. Dropped. Time. A whole second! Can't you just be happy and excited for just a little while," she interrupted, having received this speech several times already.

Charlie handed Cas his blue and grey towel that she'd been holding for him with a small smile. "Oh, and you have to meet Sam's brother, he's so your type!" she said, lowering her voice so only he could hear her. This was considerably difficult considering the amount of noise permeating the air. He smiled slightly, lips curving upwards, as he pulled his goggles off his head and wrapped his towel around his waist.

Charlie had been trying to hook him up with somebody ever since she and Jo had started dating. Charlie felt guilty for "neglecting" Cas so she kept trying to find him somebody. It also helped that she was one of the few people who he'd come out of the closet with. Once she found out that neither of them played for the same team, with Charlie swearing that her "gaydar" had told her, their friendship had flourished.

She looped her arm through his and dragged him off to meet Sam's brother. She chatted the whole way there about how other swimmers were doing on their team and how the meet was going. He received several claps on the back and words of congratulations from various teammates on their walk. When they got to their "basecamp" they found Sam arguing with somebody over iPods vs Tapes.

"I've already told you Sammy, you're not going anywhere near my baby with that plug-in thing!"

"But Dean it wil-"

"Hey Sam!" Charlie butted in. This argument had been going on when she left and would probably go on for a lot more if she didn't say anything. Sam looked up, startled by the sudden interruption, when he saw it was his two friends, he relaxed though.

"Hey Charlie, Cas. You were just in that 50 fly right?" Sam asked. Castiel nodded. "How did you do?"

"I dropped a second," Castiel said, a smile ghosting over his face.

"Really? That's great! You've really been working hard on that haven't you?" Sam said, proud of his friend.

"Jeez Sam aren't you gonna introduce us?" a deep voice emerged.

"Oh yeah, sorry Cas, this is my brother Dean, Dean this is one of my best friends, Castiel."

Dean reached a hand out to shake Cas', his eyes staring straight into Castiel's deep blue ones, pinning him to the spot with his deep green pools. His hand firmly grasped Castiel's'.

"Pleasure to meet you Cas," Dean said. But Castiel couldn't say anything back. His lungs refused to function, his skin was on fire, his throat was clamped tight, his lips sealed, his heart beating like a drum. He was going to sing, he was going to throw up, he was going to cry, he was going to scream, he was going to laugh. For he was in love at first sight.

**Author's Note:**

> I can no longer write for this fandom. Thank your for your time, I'm sorry but this is officially discontinued.


End file.
